JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #73 - June 2012 - 36

innovations Research & Development
M. Torres aims at offering its customers in the aerospace industry a single and reliable source of efficient manufacturing systems for composite and metallic structural components. Following this strategic approach, the company has made a multimillion euro investment in a new r&d facility for composite materials lamination equipment. This investment is fully aligned with its strategy to focus on its core competencies, namely the development of capital equipment solutions. This strategy is implemented with a strong focus on composite manufacturing equipment, not only for aerospace but also for other industrial sectors such as wind blade manufacturing, automotive and transport in general. It is also the result of the substantial growth of the company’s composite aero structures equipment business over the last decade, and its continuous efforts to meet the future market demand. M. Torres diseños Industriales (Torres de Elorz, Navarra, Spain) has created this dedicated facility around a state-of-the-art technology that will provide a new resource to customers, focusing on demonstrators and prototyping. With this new service, the company will also be able to support customers with real manufacturing data that will enable them to get a real input rather than a simulation, in order to achieve the best and quickest payback. More than 100 guests attended the inauguration event, which included facility tours, guest speeches, live demonstrations and the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The clean room houses a well-equipped facility featuring the latest in automated fibre placement technology, as well as a platform available for new lamination concepts. This new facility, located at the Torres de Elorz site (Navarra, Spain), exploits the company’s market-leading expertise in composite manufacturing systems to expand its global operations. www.mtorres.es
other sectors

MTorres new R&D laboratory and assembly facility

> Booth D10

Production
Although silicone spray has a high viscosity, it will easily sag on vertical mould wall faces when manufacturing reusable silicone bags for infusion and prepreg applications. Multiple spray coats are therefore needed and the wait time required for each coat to gel slows bag production. UK’s ACC Silicones Ltd. and Alan Harper Composites Ltd. combined their technologies to introduce a new innovative solution. For faster manufacture, the SilCon V spray machine is designed to enable switching on and off the VbS26T thixotropic additive at will so that it is immediately available at the machine spray head as and when selected. The operator needs only to operate the on/off thixotropic valve to instantly spray silicone with or without the thixotropic additive. Faster spray-up times are immediately achieved as thicker and fewer coats can be sprayed to build up the 2-3 mm bag thickness. Applying the thixotropic additive at the spray head allows pumping a similar grade silicone from bulk at greater speed with less energy, with the added feature of being able to switch it on after the initial non-thixotropic film is applied. reusable Silicone bag (rSb) technology is now gaining rapid acceptance in infusion and prepreg moulding as it is proven to be cost effective after only 8 moulded parts and dramatically reduces the environmental impact of conventional consumable bag technology wastage. www.alanharpercomposites.com
other sectors other sectors other sectors

New silicone spray machine with on/off thixotropic valve

> Booth A12

UVF – Universal vacuum fixtures system

> Booth E10

RTM central vacuum system from Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum

> Booth D19

The UVF (universal vacuum fixtures) system developed by belotti SpA is an automatic vacuum fixing system designed to rigidly clamp shaped metal and/ or composite parts for several operations (cutting, drilling, water jet cutting). This programmable system avoids special fixture equipment and further costs (project, manufacturing, storage, maintenance, installation, transport…), while improving product quality and production times. The numerical control system manages the machining head’s movements and locates the actuators to generate the piece holding surface. In this way, different parts can be machined in sequence without losing time. Through Stiles machinery Inc., USA, the system has won the Equipment Innovation Award for Composites Excellence (ACE), a competition which recognizes technology achievement, salutes excellence in composite manufacturing, and showcases advancements in product development. www.belotti.com

In the elaboration of composite materials, it may sometimes be necessary, for processes like rTM (resin Transfer Molding), to have two different pressure levels: one “vacuum” level, fixed, as low as possible for closing of the mold and one adjustable “vacuum” level for the resin injection operation. This problem can be solved by using the rTM central vacuum system from Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum. This latter is made of: - one single stage oil-sealed rotary vane pump SOgEVAC SV65b having a nominal speed of 59 m3/hour at 50 Hz - two isolated and stacked parallelepiped vacuum vessels (one “end pressure” vessel equipped with an anti-suck back valve and one “regulated pressure” vessel equipped with an electromagnetic valve). - one electrical cabinet controlling the vacuum pump and ensuring pressure regulation between two set thresholds for the resin injection. Each vessel is equipped with six “vacuum” connections with ball valves. The vacuum pump is protected with active charcoal filter and paper filter mounted in serial. The whole assembly can be fixed or caters mounted.
www.oerlikon.com

36 jec composites magazine / No73 June 2012
http://www.mtorres.es http://www.alanharpercomposites.com http://www.belotti.com http://www.oerlikon.com
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #73 - June 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #73 - June 2012
